2020 Topps - Legends Variation

Year: 2020
Manufacturer: Topps
Set: Flagship (Series 1)
Card Number: 149
Card Type: Legends Variation

With the release (finally) of Topps Update I can sort of confirm that Robin won't and doesn't have a legends variation in the 2021 set.  And I'm ok with that, I will say however that I love when he does get that honor.  I love seeing Robin on the new Topps designs.  And I'll apologize for the long string of On the Radar posts.  I was traveling for the last couple weeks and well it also seems that there is just a ton of Robin cards coming out this year.  Did I mention that we've past over 600 new cards this year?

Ahem well going back to the trough I've been pulling from another card from my latest COMC delivery.  It's Robin's 2020 Topps Legends Variation.  Such a handsome card.  I will say I like the 2020 design over 2021.  It's also a photo that's not over used.  And who doesn't love a back filled with stats??!!

 

2005 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts Glory Days

Year: 2005

Manufacturer: Upper Deck

Set: SP Legendary Cuts

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Glory Days

Card Number: GD-RY

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 382/399

Have I lamented recently how much I miss Upper Deck in baseball?  Let's go back to a time when the shelves were literally packed with product, back to 2005. 

I've said it many times, 2005 has the distinction of being the year that Robin has the most cards produced with his likeness, more than 1000!!  And that has to do with sets like this. In this set alone Robin has close to 40 different cards to chase (that of course includes all the parallels).

And of course what was all the rage was having an insert set that had not only color parallels, but also autograph, relic and relic autograph parallels.  

The base card for the Glory Days insert is numbered to only 399.  Again as was the tradition the overall design of the card is made to accommodate the autograph and relic parallels.  The autographed sticker would be placed where the team name is and the relic would be put where team logo is.  

But the card does feature full career stats on the back and a nice little write up, something that is usually missing on similar card made today.

2019 Topps Update Legends Variation

Year: 2019

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Topps Update

Card Number: US168

Card Type: Variation

Variation Type: Legends SP

COMC Black Friday Haul #34

We got a double dip in 2019 with Robin getting a Legends Variation in Series 2 and again in the Update series.  Topps picked another great photo to use for Robin's card.  Personally I'm a big fan of these legends variations. First there's no doubt when you pull one of these that you have something special and it's a great way to get retired and HOF players into a new set.  

2008 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts Base card

Year: 2008

Manufacture: Upper Deck

Set: SP Legendary Cuts

Card Type: Base

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 094/550

2008 a time right before the age of exclusivity.  I miss Upper Deck in the baseball card game.  Sure they deserve their exile, but man they also put out some great sets back in the day.  Hard to believe we are closing in on 10 year's of Topps exclusiveness.  SP Legendary Cuts was on interesting product the relied heavily on relic hits for the set, but there are some really nice autographed cards and combo relic cards in the set.  The base cards are numbered to only 550 and there's only one parallel set, the Memerable Moments numbered to just 1.  The base cards had a nice appeal with a great color head shot and an action black and white photo.  Robin has lots of cards to chase in this set as well from all the relic parallels to some great autographed cards.  

2006 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts - Baseball Chronology Platinum

Year: 2006

Manufacture: Upper Deck

Set: SP Legendary Cuts

Card Number: BC-RY

Card Type: Insert Parallel

Insert Set: Baseball Chronology

Parallel: Platinum

Card Attrbutes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 49/99

Still working on my Black Friday COMC haul.  Next up is one of the few low numbered parallels I picked up in the haul.  Legendary Cuts was a great HOF and retired themed product.  And it's been a few years since we had a nice HOF dedicated set.  They were all the rage for awhile.  Robin is featured in the base set a couple of the inserts.  The Baseball Chronology set has a few serial numbered parallels and a relic parallel as well.  Robin's card here is part of the Platinum parallel numbered to 99.  The team logo, where the relic would go in the relic parallel, and serial numbering is that shimmery holo silver foil and looks very nice in hand.   

2016 Topps Gypsy Queen

Year: 2016

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Gypsy Queen

Card Number: 334

Card Type: Base, SP

If memory serves me Robin has been in almost every base set of Gypsy Queen since the first issue in 2011, with the exception of one year, 2012, and he had 2 relic cards in that set.  

Once again Robin graces the checklist for Gypsy Queen this time in the high numbers making his card one of those terrible manufactured short prints.  Gypsy Queen's designs have always been simple mimicking the 1887 originals, this year's no different.

1993 Upper Deck SP

Year: 1993

Manufacturer: Upper Deck

Set: SP

Card Number: 72

Card Type: Base

I know I've brought this up many times, but Robin's career ended just as things were starting to heat up in the baseball card market.  The cardboard one-up-manship started right around now with card companies trying to one-up the other with different gimmicks.  They started offering higher end products, not like today, but still a lot pricier then their flagship products.  

1993 marks the inaugural year of SP, a brand that Upper Deck still puts out.  This set also has probably the most iconic rookie card of the 90's, Derek Jeter's and his rookie card carries about 95% of the value of the set.

Still Robin does have a few cards scattered around the various higher end sets from this time, SP included.

2007 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts: Legendary Materials Dual Relic #d to 125

Card Manufacturer: Upper Deck

Card Set: SP Legendary Cuts

Year: 2007

Card Number: LM-RY1

Card Type: Insert 

Insert Set: Legendary Materials Dual Relic

Relic Type: Jersey/Pants

Card Attributes: Relics, Serial Numbered

Serial Number 104/125

I have a love hate relationship with relic cards.  First I love the relic cards that feature Robin, but I hate the boring plain old single color swatch.  But I'll take what I can get and afford.

The 2007 SP Legendary Cuts offers a bunch of Yount cards.  The Legendary Materials relics come in all sorts of flavors and Robin has 2 cards in the set.  I have no idea why Upper Deck chose to use the word CUTS for the relic opening. As you can see we get two swatches, or maybe it's just one larger piece, it's hard to tell.  You can probably guess that they other variations of this relic card come in single, triple and quad relics and there is also an autographed version and an auto relic version.  Overall not a terrible card, but the photo is small and back of the card really offers nothing.

1999 Upper Deck SP Signature Edition

Card Manufacturer: Upper Deck

Card Set: SP Signature Edition

Year: 1999

Card Number: 168

Card Type: Base

Oh the good old days.  1999. We were all worried that the our computers wouldn't work next year, that for some reason all the nuclear missiles would launch, and that the end of the world was near.  It also marked the return of Robin Yount to the cardboardscape.  I miss cool products like SP.  Sure Upper Deck still uses the brand for hockey and college stuff, at least they did.  

Robin's 1999 SP Signature Edition base card looks like it's missing something and that's because it was designed for the signature version.  So much wasted space on the right. If I remember right I think the autographed cards are all on card for this set.

On the back we get his 3 best years, 2 of them his MVP years.

2014 Topps High Tek Stripes Base variation

Card Manufacturer: Topps
Card Set: High Tek
Year: 2014
Card Number: HH-RY
Card Type: Base Design Variation
Variation: Stripes
Note: Rarest of the six variations



Once upon a time I was a pretty serious poker player.  And I'll be honest I was pretty good.  Good enough to win a trip to Vegas and make money in Vegas.  I don't play much anymore due to my limited free time, but when I was big into it I picked up Doyle Brunson's Super System book.  I don't know how many of you have read it, but pretty much Doyle lays down the basics and then tells you why he does something completely different.  It's kind of funny.  To paraphrase: you gotta use your gut.

Why do I bring this up?  Well I've been feeling I could write a book on the timing of buying cards on ebay.  And my first rule would be never to buy or go after the first one of something being offered it will almost always go for the  highest price.  So why would I go after, bid on, and win this card?

Had to go with my gut.

I have no idea how many of these striped versions actually exist, as a matter of fact I don't know if Topps will ever tell us. But knowing that these are the rarest of the rare base card variations, I had to try and snag one.  Because even if the first one might go for the most money, if they are that rare my chances of seeing another one in the coming months once the High Tek mass ripping ends might be few and far between.  As a matter of fact I've only seen one other one offered on Ebay and that guys wants $80 for it (he was trying to get $150 the first time he listed it).  I've seen some speculation that this design might be as limited as just 5 copies!

So how much did I pay for this super rare variation.  $11, well $11.25 plus shipping so right about $14.  Did I over pay?  I don't think so.  As a matter of fact after I won it I was scared the seller might back out. Because I thought I got a screaming deal.  This is one of those rare occasions you have to buck the trend and jump in.  The fact that actual print runs are still unknown helped me a lot.  It also helped that there are so many versions and variations and parallels that it's a little overwhelming.  It was for me at first.  But I realized that I'll probably be able to pick up the other 4 variations anytime.  I know at least the two most common I should be able to pick up much cheaper in a couple months with the market is still flooded with them, but these rarer ones it's now or probably never.

So here it is the rarest base variation for the American League in Topps High Tek.